Pharmacist counseling intervention to improve patient antibiotic compliance
Background and objectives: Reported microbial resistance to antibiotics is increasing. One of the main factors is patient non-compliance in use of antibiotics. Pharmacist counseling has been shown to be effective in increasing compliance with the use of several types of medications, but its effectiveness of on compliance with antibiotic use has not been widely published. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of pharmaceutical counseling in a pharmacy setting to increase compliance with antibiotic use.Method: A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 104 adult patients aged 18 years and over who purchased antibiotics by prescription at a pharmacy in Denpasar City, Bali Province. The number of subjects was determined with a confidence level of 95% and a power of 90% with the effect size of 20%. Subjects were divided into two groups using the block randomization method, namely 52 subjects in the intervention group and 52 subjects in the control group. The intervention group was provided with pharmaceutical counseling by a pharmacist at the time of delivery of the drug at the pharmacy, while the control group was provided drug information according to the pharmacy service standard. Subject compliance was measured by telephone interview using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 questionnaire within 3-5 days after purchasing the medication. Statistical analysis with the Mann Whitney U Test was performed to determine the difference in mean rank of compliance scores between the intervention group and the control group. The proportion of compliance among the intervention group was divided by proportion of compliance in the control group to get the compliance ratio. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the adjusted compliance ratio.Results: The number of subjects analyzed was 98, as 5 subjects could not be contacted by telephone and 1 subject was hospitalized. The mean rank of compliance scores in the intervention group (61.05) was significantly higher (p<0.001) than the comparison group (37.95). The proportion of compliance in the intervention group was 65.3% and the control group was 18.4%, with the proportion ratio (PR) of 3.56 (95%CI=1.90-6.64). Logistic regression analysis showed that variables which significantly increased compliance with antibiotic use were pharmacist counseling (APR=9.33; 95%CI: 3.24-26.87), frequency of taking medication (APR=6.94; 95%CI: 2.01-23.92) and method of payment (APR=4.30; 95%CI: 1.18-15.66).Conclusion: Pharmaceutical counseling at a pharmacy setting was found to increase compliance of antibiotic use. Compliance of antibiotic use is also influenced by the frequency of taking medication and the method of payment. Pharmacist counseling when accessing medication at a pharmacy is crucial for improving patient compliance of antibiotic use.